Spotify joins Facebook and Twitter to allow employees to work from home until the end of the year

Music streaming giant Spotify is the latest tech company to announce that it will have its employees working from home at least until the end of 2020, as countries begin to lift the corona virus lockdown.

“Yesterday, we announced the extension of our home work plan for all Spotify employees worldwide,” a company spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

“We will continue to follow local government guidelines city-by-city and take a phased approach to opening our office when we deem it safe to do so.

“The health and safety of our employees is our top priority.

“There is no need for an employee to come to the office and he can choose to work from home until the end of the year.”

Spotify has confirmed that it will make its 4,400-person workforce work from home by the end of this year

The news was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.

Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social network would allow about half of its 45,000 workforce to continue working remotely for the next five to 10 years.

But Zuckerberg also said Facebook would cut salaries for outside workers based in cities with lower living costs.

In the near future, about 95 percent of Facebook employees will be working from home until the end of 2020.

Google has also informed employees who can work from home that they will continue to do so until at least January 1.

Both Google and Facebook plan to limit office capacity to less than 30 percent in the months after they reopen their office.

Google said it plans a “staggered” approach to bring employees back to the office.

Amazon has told employees who can work from home that they can continue to do so until at least October 2.

Last week, Twitter announced that it gives its employees the opportunity to work from home permanently.

The outlier among the tech giants is Apple, who reportedly asked employees to return to the office as early as June.

Spotify, the Swedish company, says it employs 4,405 full-time people. She says she has offices in 79 countries and territories around the world.

Spotify joins other tech giants like Facebook and Twitter, who announced that they would allow their employees to work remotely. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen on the left. Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, is right

About half of the workforce – 2,121 employees – is located in the United States.

The company has 1,437 full-time employees in Sweden.

The company has seen stock prices rise in recent days after dropping a bomb – by announcing the signing of Joe Rogan for an exclusive deal that would see its popular podcast stream only on Spotify.

The Swedish online streaming giant confirmed on Tuesday that it had acquired the rights to The Joe Rogan Experience. The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal is valued at over $ 100 million.

This makes it one of the biggest deals ever registered for a podcast.

The length of the deal has not been confirmed by the source, the Journal reported, but they said it would likely be worth more than $ 100 million based on milestones and performance statistics over several years.

With the move, all 11 years of Rogan’s shows will move to Spotify on September 1 and become exclusive to the streaming giant by the end of 2020.

Rogan’s video podcasts are then no longer available on YouTube.

Rogan, a comedian, TV host and mixed martial arts commentator, assured his fans that the podcast will remain “ exactly the same ” and that he will retain control of the show when the deal kicks off at the end of the year.

“As of September 1, the podcast will be available on both Spotify and all platforms, and by the end of the year it will go exclusively to Spotify, including the video version,” Rogan, 52, wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

The company has seen stock prices rise in recent days after dropping a bomb – the announcement of Joe Rogan’s signing for an exclusive deal that would see its popular podcast stream only on Spotify

Spotify has not disclosed how much it paid, but a source told the Wall Street Journal that it deposited over $ 100 million in a multi-year licensing agreement to determine the most downloaded podcast in the entire US

“It will remain FREE and it will be the exact same show. It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify has no creative control over the show. They want me to just keep doing it the way I do now. ‘

He added: ‘We’ll still have clips on YouTube, but full versions of the show will only be on Spotify after the end of the year.

“I am delighted to have the support of the largest audio platform in the world and hope you will be there when we make the switch!”

The podcast star previously dismissed the possibility that he would hand over rights to the streaming giant, saying it won’t pay enough and he can make more money on YouTube.

Rogan started the show back in 2009, in the early days of podcasting, and has amassed a loyal following of fans.

In 2019, it was the most downloaded podcast on Apple devices, regularly attracting over a million views per episode.

In the free-flowing show, Rogan moves between comedian and former kickboxer and Taekwondo champion, with his guests ranging from mixed martial artists to entrepreneurs, scientists, athletes and health advocates to celebrity actors.